Combination translucent building block and house number



J 25, 1940- P. M. BURROWAY 2,205,515

COMBINATION TRANSLUCENT BUILDING BLOCK AND HOUSE NUMBER Filed June.14, 1938 v P 1 W 5 I 2 M d 'INVENTOR.

BY v K A TTORNEY I Patented June 25,1940

umreo STATES PATENT OFFICE COMBINATION TRANSLUCENT BUILDING BLOCK HOUSE NUMBER Paul M. Burroway, Phoenix, Aria.

Application June 14, 1938, Serial No. 213,724

3 Claims.

My invention relates to a combination translucent building block and house number-and has for-its objects, first, the provision of a block of building material of a translucent substance upon 5 which a house number is amxed; second, to provide a combination building block, readily adapted to be incorporated within a structural wall,

, which has affixed to its outside numbers, ornaments or other indicia whereby'they may be easily observed from the outside of the structure in daylight and will be readily seen as a silhouette by light transmitted through the body of said block from any convenient source within the structure during the night time; third, to

1 provide a block of translucent material readily adapted to be incorporated in the wall of a' building structure and having a hollow interior with one or both of its vertical faces corrugated or otherwise made prismatic in order to absorb and diffuse light to be transmitted therethrough and at the same time render the body of said block non-transparent, together with numbers or other indicia aifixed to the outer vertical face thereof whereby said numbers are easily dis- 26 cernible from the outside in the daylight and stand out in the silhouette by light transmitted through said block from an interior artificial source in the night time. Other objects will appear hereinafter. v

30 I attain the foregoing .objects by means of the construction and devices illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 represents a front elevational view of a single block constructed according to my invention; Figure 2,

a section thereof taken substantially on line 2-2, Fig. 1; Figure 3 is ahorizontal section of a structural wall in which two of my blocks are incorporated; Figure 4, a fragment of a wall showing the use of a plurality of blocks and 4 drawn upon a somewhat reduced scale, and Figure 5, a fragmentary sectional view showings means of attaching numbers or indicia to the building blocks.

Similar numbers refer to similar parts in the 5 several views.

In its preferred form the body of a combination building block and house number, as I have developed it, consists of a hollow glass block 2, composed of two sections 3 and 4 respectively, of

50 clear glass, welded or cemented together at I so as to provide two opposite outer vertical faces 6 and 6. The resulting block may be square, as illustrated, or may be made rectangular, diamond shaped, or any other convenient shape so long as 55 it may be readily incorporated by masonry work,

or otherwise, into a structural wall of brick'or other building The inner face 5 and certain other faces of theblock are molded with a series of corrugations or prismatic indentations [2. Thesemay include I both the outer surfaces as 'well as the inside surfaces. However, as illustrated, the front faces 6, to which numbers are attached, are smooth. The refraction thus produced has a two-fold pur-/ pose, first it gathers and concentrates all light 1 striking the inner surface and transmits the same through the composite block' more eillciently than if the surface were plain and flat and, second, it renders the block translucent but non-transparent, thereby insuring privacy. The size and number of the corrugations or indentations is made such that transmitted light will be diflused and distributed evenly throughout the area of the outer face 6.

Upon the outer face i, I ailix the body of a 20 number or otherindicium I, of opaque material. This is preferably molded or stamped of metal but may also be composed of weatherproof plastic composition such as pyrilin," or the like.

These indicia are attached to the outer face 6, 2 by means of screws 9, screwed into fiber rawl plugs Ill, inserted in the holes ll, drilled through the face 6. I prefer to have holes ll drilled in the outer faces of the block at uniform classified positions and corresponding holes in the numbers 30 or other indicia drilled to match and register with one of such classifications. Numerals may be drilled so that two equi-distantly spaced holes positioned central, to left of center, or to right of center, will accommodate all ordinary nu- 85 merals or letters. In' certain instances it may be more desirable to use other means of attachment than that herewith illustrated, and these may include lead wool, self-expanding interior rivets, or the like. 4

I have found that due to the unequal expansion between indicia and the block, it is'impractical to use cement for attaching these two elements. Also it is important that the numbers, letters, or other indicia be made of a substantial depth for if they do not stand out from the face of the block they are not readily observed from the exterior of the structure in the day time. In use, blocks of this type. with the indicia" 1 attached as aforesaid, are set into the wall of a building structure where the wall is of frame construction, as in Figure 3,.it has been found desirable to use a mastic composition I3 for the setting joints. In brick construction, as in Figure4, cement liisusedforthispurposeintheli' customary manner. Either one or a plurality of these blocks may be set into the wall in horizontal rows as shown in Figure 4, or otherwise, as may be desired. y

when constructed and installed as above described, I have found that in the day time, due to the semi-translucent nature of the type of glass block herewith described and the fact that a large percentage of light is reflected from its outer surface, the numbers affixed to and standing out from the outer face thereof are easily discernible in all ordinary daylight. The blocks with the numbers attached, set into the wall H of the structure, therefore act as ordinary house numbers. On the other hand, at night, I have found that any light, whether reading lamp, hall light, or the like, within-the room to which the inner surfaces 5 of the block are exposed will be gathered and transmitted through the structure of the block and will be easily visible as a diffused, even light on the outer face thereof. Thus at night, numbers or indicia 8, being of opaque material, stand out in silhouette and outline against this illuminated background, as in Figure 4, and are easily discernible at all ordinary distances.

Since these blocks are incorporated into the wall of the structure and become a part thereof, my invention. may be considered not alone as to the blocks per se, but as a composite wall, including this added utility: that is, it is a house number by day and an illuminated number at night.

While I have illustrated and describedbut oneform of my invention, it will be readily apparent to those familiar with the art that numerous modifications and alternative constructions can be made. Since these, however, would all remain within the spirit of the invention I make the following claims.

I claim:

1. A building block composed of two sections of clear glass forming a front section and a rear section, each of said sections including a main wall portion having a peripheral flange extending therefrom, said flanges being in edge to edge relation whereby to form a closed box, the front section having the main wall thereof provided with an outer face forming a plane surface to flatly support designating characters, the main wall of the front section having a rear face formed of a series of convex ribs, the main wall of the rear section having a front face forming a plane surface and a rear face forming a series of convex ribs at right angles to the ribs of the front section to silhouette the designating characters by the refraction of the light within the block.

2. A building block composed of clear glass, having a hollow interior and parallel inner and outer walls, the forward faceof each of said walls being smooth, the rear face of each of said walls being provided with a series of convex ribs,

to produce refraction and render said block translucent, and opaque indicia attached to the smooth forward face of said outer wall whereby the indicia will be silhouetted by the light refracted through the block.

3. A building block composed of clear glass, having a hollow interior and parallel inner and outer walls, the forward face of each of said walls being smooth, the rear face of each of said walls being provided with a series of convex ribs, the ribs on the outer wall being arranged at right angles to the ribs on the inner wall to produce refraction and render said block translucent, and opaque indicia attached to the smooth forward face of said outer wall whereby the indicia will be silhouetted by the light refracted through the block.

PAUL M. BURROWAY. 

